ABC News’ Devin Dwyer: “Obama Ad Casts Romney As Deficit-Driver Like Bush” President Obama has presided over three consecutive years of historically high federal budget deficits and the addition of more than $5 trillion to the national debt. Yet, in a new television ad for his re-election campaign, Obama casts himself as the only candidate for president with a plan to narrow the budget gap, while suggesting GOP rival Mitt Romney would make deficits worse. LINK

MITT ROMNEY

USA Today’s Jackie Kucinich: “GOP: Romney’s Overseas Trip Showed His Mettle” Mitt Romney’s three-nation foreign tour was overshadowed by a series of missteps, but Republicans Tuesday, called the trip a win for the GOP standard-bearer. LINK

USA Today’s Catalina Camia: “Romney To Launch Bus Tour Before GOP Convention” Mitt Romney is planning a bus tour ahead of the Republican National Convention. The bus tour is raising speculation that Romney will announce his running mate during the trip. LINK

The Wall Street Journal’s Sara Murray: “Romney’s Overseas Trip Produces Hits and Misses” With a speech lauding Poland as a “defender of freedom,” Mitt Romney finished a trip abroad Tuesday that was long on symbolism but short on new policy, a combination that may have given his presidential campaign much of what it wanted despite some well-publicized stumbles. LINK

The Boston Globe’s Matt Viser: “In A Twist, Romney Lauds Israeli Health Care System” Mitt Romney’s praise for the Israeli health care system, made near the end of his foreign trip, followed him as he returned home Tuesday, raising eyebrows because he lauded a system that has more government control than the Obama health law Romney so strenuously faults. LINK

The Washington Post’s Philip Rucker and Dan Balz: “Mitt Romney wraps up tumultuous overseas tour” Mitt Romney had just delivered a policy speech here Tuesday — hailing Poland for its fiscal austerity — when ABC’s “Good Morning America” came on air back home with a live report from the speech venue. But the broadcast did not focus on the Republican presidential hopeful’s message in Poland. Instead, it trumpeted the latest misstep to mar his week-long foreign tour: a tongue-lashing by a campaign spokesman aimed at journalists following the candidate. LINK

Politico’s Kenneth P. Vogel and William Bergstrom : “Romney GOP high-rollers to meet in Aspen” Mitt Romney will hold a fundraiser with some of the biggest donors in GOP politics in Aspen on Thursday night on the sidelines of a closed-door Republican Governors Association high-rollers event, sources tell POLITICO. After attending public events during the day at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds and Basalt High School, Romney plans to join mega-donors in town for a retreat hosted by the RGA’s so-called Executive Roundtable program, which will draw some of the biggest names in GOP politics, including several high-powered governors, a top adviser to Romney, Karl Rove, and other representatives of deep-pocketed political spenders, including a top lieutenant of the Koch brothers. LINK

The Hill’s Amie Parnes and Justin Sink: “Romney resets media strategy” Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign is promising to become more media-friendly after headlines during the Republican candidate’s weeklong foreign trip highlighted an increasingly fractious relationship with the press. Fewer than 100 days out from the election, the campaign is expected to provide more press briefings and heightened access to the candidate in the coming days, and to make changes to the travel pool that will make it more media friendly. LINK

The Washington Times’ Seth McLaughlin: “Romney’s trip a bumpy ride” Under mounting pressure to be more open on foreign policy issues, Mitt Romney tried to do just that during his six-day trip to visit three American allies — but repeatedly found himself having to backtrack on the things he said.The Romney campaign shrugged off those hiccups, saying the trip to Britain, Israel and Poland was a success and gave the presumptive Republican presidential nominee a chance to appear on the world stage with foreign leaders and highlight key differences with President Obama over American policy toward Israel. LINK

VOTING SYSTEM

The New York Times’ Ethan Bronner: “Partisan Rifts Hinder Efforts to Improve U.S. Voting System” Twelve years after a too-close-to-call presidential contest imploded in a hail of Florida punch card ballots and a bitter 5-to-4 Supreme Court ruling for George W. Bush, the country’s voting systems remain as deeply flawed as ever with any prospect of fixing them mired in increasing levels of partisanship. LINK